March 24, 2010

March 14, 2010

Don't let up your efforts to kill the health bill that the White House and Pelosi/Reid are trying to force on the American public, despite the fact that the majority of Americans (73%) are opposed to this monstrosity. Who would ever want Congress to control health care, which represents one-sixth of our exconomy?!

As Ed Morrissey of Hot Air said at a "Kill the Bill" rally in Minnesota over the weekend, this is "the most expansive government takeover attempt in our history." Once you enact massive entitlement programs, you simply can't go back, as we see with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The proposed "health care bill (AKA insurance company bail-out) is 1) way too expensive and 2) way too far-reaching.

The FAR better choice is to enact a series of incremental steps, including separating health care from employment, allowing health insurance companies to sell their coverage across state lines, and allowing companies to offer an array of coverages, not mandate what insurance companies must provide.

This deal is still in the works, and the American people (you and me!) must keep calling and writing our senators and representatives to let them know we want to Kill the Bill. Scrap it and start over. As the HillBuzz boyz say, "Not. This. Time.

Speakers:Mike German (Policy Counsel, Washington Legislative Office, American Civil Liberties Union ACLU). Mike German is a sixteen-year veteran of the FBI, where he served as a Special Agent in domestic terrorism, bank fraud and public corruption investigations. While at the FBI, German also served in undercover operations, successfully helping to prevent several terrorist attacks. He resigned in 2004 to make Congress and the public aware of the continuing deficiencies in FBI counterterrorism operations after the implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s reforms.

Carol Rose is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. A lawyer and journalist, Carol has spent her career advocating for human rights and civil liberties both in the United States and abroad, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Japan, Sri Lanka, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Northern Ireland, and Vietnam.

David Gersten (Acting Deputy Officer for Programs and Compliance, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, US Department of Homeland Security) David Gersten normally holds the position of Director of the Programs Division for DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Before joining DHS, Mr. Gersten led customer service efforts for the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Prior to his work at the Department of Education, he served as executive director of the Center for Equal Opportunity providing assistance and scrutiny for the public and private sector on immigration and assimilation policy making. Mr. Gersten also spent four years as director of education for an educational foundation dedicated to identifying, training and placing young people in public policy positions. He is the proud parent of five children including six year old triplets.

Juliette Kayyem (Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs, US Department of Homeland Security) Juliette N. Kayyem was appointed as Massachusetts’ first Undersecretary for Homeland Security by Gov. Deval L. Patrick in January 2007. When appointed by Governor Patrick, she became the first Arab-American to serve as a homeland security advisor at the state level. As undersecretary, she has been responsible for developing statewide policy on homeland security and specifically focused on preventing, protecting, responding to, and recovering from any and all critical incidents. Undersecretary Kayyem focused much of her time on coordinating efforts across local, state and federal entities.

March 09, 2010

I've got my ear to the ground to hear what has become of former Sharon imam Muhammed Masood, who was "voluntarily deported" back to Pakistan in Ocotber 2008. Masood was first picked up by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in November 2006. (Previous blogposts here.) He was arrested on criminal visa fraud charges in August 2007, and he pleaded guilty to five fraud charges in February 2008.

According to my sources, Hafiz Muhammed Masood is back in Lahore, Pakistan, where he is the imam of an important mosque in Lahore controlled by Jamat e Dawa (the new face of the terrorist group Lashkar e Taiba). Masood reportedly recently celebrated a second marriage to a lady in Lahore. It was quite a big event, I'm told.

Masood's lawyer said this of Masood back in Ocotber 2008, "He is totally petrified of going back to Pakistan." And "he was heartbroken about leaving his wife and eight children and returning to a country where he could be in danger because he preached peace in the United States, said his lawyer, Norman S. Zalkind of Boston." Sounds like Masood is doing just fine though. What do his interfaith supporters in Sharon think of the second wife? What do his own wife and children think?

Meanwhile, Masood's first (?) wife and family are still living in the Islamic Center of New England estate in Sharon, MA, and they are facing deportation charges too. The family applied for political asylum in the U.S., but it was denied. How do you say "chutzpah" in Urdu? That deportation case continues.